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Roofing and Siding Projects and Decisions
The shock wore off the unexpected need for roofing and siding (click here if you missed the details), and it was time to decide on who we would hire for the projects and decide on the materials that would be used. Choosing the Details We focused on the siding first since the color of the new roof would depend upon the siding color. Ultimately, we chose a slate blue/grayish color scheme for the projects. We chose James Hardie siding which would come with wrapping and foam insulation layers under the actual fiber-cement pre-colored siding. Extra insulation is a good thing when you live in the mountains of Colorado! With new…
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Surprise! Let’s Add Roofing and Siding to the Project, Shall We?
Roofing and siding are big home systems and both are something you want to look closely at when considering a new home purchase. Everyone knows you need a home inspection to inform the purchase process, right? Yeah, we know that as well which is why we did our due diligence and had an inspection done on our Young Victorian while we were considering the purchase of what we knew would be a true fixer upper. Some Stuff Can Wait! Imagine our delight to learn that the original roof was in great condition and should last us several more years! And while the wood siding would need to be replaced at…
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Our Own Island (Kitchen Island That Is)!
So once the cabinets had been installed in our Young Victorian, it was time to finish the kitchen island. This was a huge step in the kitchen renovation as there had been no island previously. We had a large open space and a desperate need for more storage given our decision to forego upper cabinets. You can read a previous post on the decisions surrounding the island and cabinets here, if you’d like to catch up! Big Space Needs A Big Island The original owners of the house had utilized an antique retail counter as their island. The piece, however, had been sold during an estate sale prior to the…
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Kitchen Cabinets; Finally!
Kitchen cabinets are pretty necessary. And when you’ve gone without them for 6 months, you really appreciate it when you are finally able to install them into what will be your brand new kitchen (some day)! In a previous post, I shared our experience with picking out the cabinets. You can click here to read that post. We had decided to go with IKEA cabinets given their cost and the flexibility to create a configuration that would work with our specific kitchen space. Mixing It Up We also decided to go with two different types of cabinets. Remember that we do not have any upper cabinets because of the configuration…
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Thistles Are For Eeyore!
Who likes thistles? Anyone? Eeyore likes them, bees like them; I don’t like them! And I feel quite confident in that statement because I’ve been battling thistles and other nasty weeds around our property for 4 years now. I feel like I’m slowly winning the war but that may just be wishful thinking. Grilling, Hikes, And Thistle Pulling; Must Be Summer! During the summer, I’m out on the property almost every week pulling thistles. Warren helps the process by mowing the entire property 2-3 times a summer. But these nasty weeds grow so fast, and so much faster than the natural grass that grows here. I have to pull the…
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Making Space Work; Surviving the Reno
Making space work; I touched on this “surviving the reno” experience in a previous post but it’s definitely worth revisiting. As we navigated the renovation, we had to be flexible and down-right creative at times. You learn to get resourceful with making space work during a whole home renovation. It was a struggle to feel “normal” during those days that seemed would never end. Days when the construction dust was thick and we were tripping over a variety of tools and materials strewn about. Even the tiniest amount of “normalcy” was the life preserver I was reaching for at the end of the day! Turning Chaos into Order by Making…
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Painting Round 2
With the hardwood flooring complete in the downstairs spaces, we could now turn our attention to painting some of those same rooms. Like the last post on the hardwoods, I’m going to just lump the painting in together. In real time, the rooms were painted as we completed other projects in each space over the course of several months. We previously discussed our paint color choices in an earlier post that you can read here. And here’s a discussion on painting the upstairs rooms, if you’d like to revisit that process! Painting: Color Makes All The Difference We wanted to have our cool color palette on full display in the…
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Hardwoods Going Down(stairs)!
We’re ready for the installation of the hardwoods downstairs in our Young Victorian! And while it will take a total of 5 months to complete the task (given there are 6 rooms to work through in stages), we’ll go ahead and cover all of the downstairs wood flooring in one post, just to button-up the topic! In case you missed it, or because I wrote the posts so long ago, you can go to this post to read about the flooring we chose. And you can go to this post on the first part of the process of laying the floors upstairs. And then go to this post to see…
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…Water (Part 2)
Water, it’s a thing! In my last post, I shared the saga of our flooded basement and the seasonal stream that began running through our property in the spring of 2016. And while the cause of the flooding was determined and subsequently resolved, there was yet another challenge just ahead for us. You Can’t Ignore Water About a week after the flooding issue (mind you the water was still actively flowing through our repaired drainage and would continue to do so for several more weeks), Warren made yet another water related discovery. This time, water made it’s presence known in the form of a damaged exterior wall in the foyer.…
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Big Snow + Sun = Water (Part 1)
Big snow in the spring usually means big melting when the sun comes out (which is usually the very next day around here)! And that’s what happened back in April, 2016. Spring snow is normal for Colorado. Spring snow is also usually really wet and heavy, unlike the light, powdery stuff we get in the winter months. This particular spring snow caught us a bit off guard however. It was evidently bigger than normal (our neighbors assured us!) Being the newbies on the block, we had wondered if this was a regular spring occurrence so the neighbors’ assurance was comforting! Shortly after this storm, our son Brandyn came to help…
